Indonesia and Malaysia are the first two countries to ban Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence tool Grok, after the generative AI essentially flooded the social media platform X with sexually explicit, lewd images of young girls and women, made without their consent.
Musk folded the generative AI tool into X when he took over Twitter, promising “free speech.” However, critics say it is instead an example of how generative AI, without clear guardrails and regulation, can result in harm.
Here’s what to know.
What’s happening with Grok?
In short, users are typing simple prompts into the AI tool on X to “digitally undress” girls and women, some of which appear to be minors, triggering the chatbot to remove clothing from the real photos and even placing the subjects in sexually suggestive poses.
These deepfake images could violate laws at home and abroad, and have prompted a global public outcry, according to CNN.
How have countries besides Indonesia and Malaysia responded?
On Monday, the U.K.’s independent online safety watchdog, Ofcom, launched a formal investigation into whether the chatbot’s explicit images violated its rules to protect the country’s citizens from illegal content.
“Reports of Grok being used to create and share illegal non-consensual intimate images and child sexual abuse material on X have been deeply concerning,” an Ofcom spokesperson said in a statement. “Platforms must protect people in the U.K. from content that’s illegal in the U.K., and we won’t hesitate to investigate where we suspect companies are failing in their duties, especially where there’s a risk of harm to children.”
“We’ll progress this investigation as a matter of the highest priority, while ensuring we follow due process,” it added.
What has Elon Musk said?
Despite calls from the general public—including from a recent target of Grok’s misuse, conservative influencer Ashley St. Clair, who is said to have fathered one of Musk’s children—X has not disabled Grok or stopped it from generating the lewd images.
On January 3, Musk responded on X, “anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content”—in effect, passing the blame onto its own users. This prompted a slew of comments on the post, which has been viewed by some 3.8 million users, including: “please start by addressing the inappropriate images of minors if you truly care,” more calls for Musk to “clean up your site,” as well as AI-generated images of Musk in bikinis.
Last week, X said Grok’s image generation tool would be available only to paying users, according to the New York Times.